Raynor de Best
Content expert covering payments and (crypto)currencies
Cryptocurrency adoption among consumers - statistics & facts
Who are the people that tend to use or be interested in cryptocurrency and how would they use them? Within roughly two years, the number of cryptocurrency users in the world nearly tripled. Estimates for the same year show that the world's leading countries for Bitcoin trading consisted of the United States, Russia, and Nigeria - with transactions generated in the U.S. worth twice as much as Russia and Nigeria combined. However, cryptocurrency services in both North America and Europe reported in 2020 they had relatively more business clients than retail clients when compared to their counterparts in other regions of the world. Indeed, crypto hedge funds, online merchants or miners made up an average of roughly 15 percent of the client base of cryptocurrency services in Asia Pacific, against 30 percent in both North America and Europe.
Bridging a gap, or the gender imbalance of cryptocurrencies
Several consumer surveys worldwide observe a gender gap in cryptocurrency ownership: A domestic survey from Australia, for example, shows that male ownership of virtual coins grew by nearly five percentage points between 2019 and 2020. Crypto ownership among Australian women declined in that same timeframe. Australia was not the only country with this. It was estimated in 2020, for instance, that one out of five Turkish crypto owners were female. Colombia was said to be one of two Latin American countries with the highest percentage of female users, even though Colombian women did not make up a clear majority. Note that many consumer surveys that were released in late 2020 or early 2021 were held right before the Bitcoin price started its ascent.Young, wild, and free? The age of crypto users
Whilst many domestic surveys observe a clear gender gap within their countries, observations on the age of a crypto owner are more varied. In Germany, to name an example, 18-to 27-year old survey respondents were three times more likely to own a digital currency than Germans aged 45 to 54 years old. They shared the top position on cryptocurrency ownership alongside the 28-to 34-year-old Germans. This matches developments in Nigeria, where the country's overall population is relatively young compared to the rest of the African continent and said to be an important driving force behind cryptocurrency adoption. Nigeria's position in Bitcoin trade stems from young people who want to break free from high commission charges to transfer cash between Nigerian and foreign banking accounts. This was different in Russia: There, roughly six out of 10 Russian respondents who said they owned a cryptocurrency were 25 to 44 years of age.
